Page 12 of How to Stake a Vampire
Because I was currently drinking vampire-made coffee that could strip paint while listening to my alpha explain to me, Didi, and Gavin why someone robbing a blood bank on Saturday night was now apparently our problem.
Samuel ignored our sullen expressions and slid a file across the table. “Whoever did this almost cleaned out the facility, including the products in the emergency reserves. The Tremaines want us to investigate.”
Didi, Gavin, and I looked at the folder like it had cooties.
“Weren’t Gregory and Constantia already looking into the thefts?” I hazarded with thinly veiled hope.
“They were,” Samuel confirmed. “This is too big an incident for them to handle on their own.”
The witch and the dragon newt gave me “you open it” looks. I nearly pointed out they had seniority over me but decided this would be a waste of my breath.
I pulled the file over and opened it gingerly.
Bo peered over my arm, his eyes alive with the ghoulish interest of a dog obsessed with true crime shows.
“When you say ‘cleaned out,’ you mean someone stole the blood products, right? Not that they, er, consumed everything on site?” I said as I cautiously studied the crime scene photos of the empty blood bank.
To my relief and Bo’s disappointment, there was a glaring lack of bodies and gratuitous gore. I passed the file to Didi and Gavin.
“Stole,” Barney confirmed. “We think whoever did this is an expert.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Vampire?”
“More than likely. Hence why Samuel wants me to join your team for this investigation.”
I hesitated. Barney was Hawthorne & Associates’s Head of Finance and Investments. That seemed a far cry from vampire detective.
“Barney has experience in the field,” Samuel grunted, no doubt picking up my unease through our bond.
Gavin’s morning coffee steamed faintly from his nostrils. “Do we have any security footage from the bank?”
“Only a partial recording.” Samuel worked his keyboard and showed us his computer screen. “The ghouls who run the place said the perpetrator took the cameras offline shortly after this. They still don’t know how. He locked the night staff in a closet.”
Didi, Gavin, and I studied the short, blurry black-and-white video.
It depicted a tall figure in Victorian-era clothing moving faster than the cameras could track in the lobby of the blood bank.
“So we’re looking for a really old vampire with questionable fashion sense?” I said with a grimace.
Didi curled a lip. “Please. All vampires have questionable fashion sense.” She shot a pointed look at the elbow patches on Barney’s suit.
Barney bristled. “I’ll have you know that this suit cost an arm and a leg!”
Bo brightened. “Whose?”
Samuel’s mouth twitched.
Barney narrowed his eyes at my dog. “What’s his blood group again?”
Bo’s tail drooped.
“Anything else we need to know?” I said hastily while my dog quietly crawled under my chair.
“Yes.” Samuel’s expression turned sour. “The thief also broke into the administrative offices and stole some medical records.”
“Anyone we know?” Didi asked.
“Only the most powerful vampires in the region,” Samuel grunted.
